[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2173]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE LAWLESSNESS SOUTH OF THE BORDER

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, Americans are under vicious attack in Mexico. 
The new threat comes from south of the border in the form of organized 
and violent Mexican kidnappers.
  Last year, 26 San Diego, California residents were kidnapped and held 
for ransom while traveling to Mexico. Numerous Mexican nationals also 
were kidnapped. Some victims were murdered. Only a few of the people 
kidnapped were ever rescued. They reported that they were beaten, 
tortured and sexually assaulted.
  The FBI says that these sophisticated kidnappers are growing in 
number. The State Department has even issued a travel alert for U.S. 
citizens living and traveling in Mexico. This new form of terrorism is 
very disturbing.
  While President Calderon is here in the United States lobbying for 
illegal immigrants to get amnesty, Mexican and U.S. citizens are being 
victimized in his home country. President Calderon would do well to 
stay home in lawless Mexico, get his house in order and protect the 
rights of hundreds of his own people and the U.S. citizens who are 
being abducted and held for ransom by these outlaws.
  And that's just the way it is.

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